Ducks aim for sweep of Stars

(Sports Network) - The Anaheim Ducks look to capture their third victory over
the Dallas Stars in five nights on Friday when the clubs wrap their playoff-
like string of games against each other at the Honda Center.

The Ducks have dropped five of six before picking up a 4-0 win at Dallas on
Monday. Two nights later they played host to the Stars and claimed a 5-2
victory thanks to Ryan Getzlaf's fourth three-point game of the season.

Getzlaf shook off a lower body injury suffered during the game to score a goal
and notch two assists. Radek Dvorak opened the game's scoring with his first
of the season at the 11:44 mark of the first and the Ducks took a 3-0 lead
into the third thanks to a power-play tally from Teemu Selanne and a goal by
Kyle Palmieri in the middle frame.

"I think scoring the first goal helped, and that power-play goal really
helped," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It deflated them a little bit,
but they came out in the third and certainly put us back on our heels."

Andrew Cogliano capped the scoring with an empty-net goal and Saku Koivu
registered the 800th point of his career on the goal. Viktor Fasth made 23
saves in the opener of a five-game homestand.

Anaheim is 14-4-0 at home this season and owns an 10-point lead for first
place in the Pacific Division. It is also three points back of Chicago for the
top seed in the West.

Dallas had a different look in the second meeting with Anaheim as it played
its first game since trading forwards Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy on Tuesday.

Lane MacDermid, one of the players acquired from Boston in the Jagr deal,
scored his first NHL goal and Erik Cole added a score as well. Kari Lehtonen
allowed four goals on 26 shots for the Stars, who have lost three straight
while yielding 22 goals over the past five games.

"I thought all of the guys had a lot of energy and tried to do all of the
little things right," MacDermid said. "We did that for the most part but they
made some good plays."

The Stars will try to avoid their third four-game slide of the season and sit
five points back of a playoff spot in the West.

The Ducks had lost three of their last four at home versus the Stars before
Wednesday's victory, which was only their fourth in the past 11 versus Dallas
overall.

This stretch marks the first time that the Stars will play the same opponent
in three straight during the regular season since they relocated from
Minnesota.

The Ducks, meanwhile, are playing three in a row versus the same club in the
regular season for the second time in team history. Anaheim went 1-0-2 over a
three-game span versus the Phoenix Coyotes on March 2-6, losing a pair of
shootout games on the road before a home victory.

Center Matthew Lombardi, acquired by the Ducks from the Phoenix Coyotes on
Wednesday in exchange for Brendan McMillan, took part in his first practice
with Anaheim on Thursday.

Getzlaf, meanwhile, was given off from practice to rest his lower body injury,
but Boudreau said he expects him to play in this game.